Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Finn held Hadley’s hand as she walked along beside him. She looked absolutely adorable in her red Christmas sweater monogrammed with her name in green and matching green leggings with red polka dots. He imagined she would get a lot of business for her clothing store once she left the Ranch. She wore soft brown fuzzy boots and a denim jacket with her name on it. Even cuter was the pink dinosaur backpack she wore.
“I want you to be a good girl for Nanny J today, okay?”
Hadley nodded.
“If she tells you to clean up your toys, or come to the carpet for carpet time, I want you to do it, understand?”
She nodded again.
He was really only telling her these things so she was in Little space and didn’t have time to overthink or overanalyze everything. She was a good girl and he knew he would get a good report when he came back to pick her up.
“If you’re a good girl, we will go down to the giftshop and you can pick out three things.”
She perked up at the idea of being allowed to pick out some goodies. Her reaction to him spoiling her was adorable and ironic considering she could probably buy out the store if she wanted to.
“Hadley!” a familiar voice yelled.
Both Finn and Hadley turned and smiled when they saw Sadie running toward them.
“Did you have a good first night?”
Hadley nodded.
“We did, thank you,” Finn added.
“I talked to Wren and Master Travis said we could go visit the turkeys tomorrow afternoon if you wanted.”
Hadley looked up at Finn.
“That’s good for us.”
Hadley gave a grin so big, Finn knew he’d spend the rest of his life trying to earn it again.
“Okay, how about after school? We can meet by the stables?”
Hadley clapped before catching herself and stopping. Her face was flushed from embarrassment and a fresh wave of emotion washed over Finn. He hurt so badly for her.
Sadie must have noticed and read the situation before she jumped up and down, clapping too. “Yes, I’m so excited!”
“We’re both very excited, thank you, Sadie,” I said, hoping Santa brought the little sweetheart everything on her list this year.
“No problem, see you tomorrow!” the Little yelled as she took off running down the hall.
Finn chuckled when he saw a woman with a long black skirt and starched shirt scold her. He laughed again when the woman held her hand out and Sadie begrudgingly spit her gum into it.
“Miss Price!” Sadie whined. A sharp smack to her bottom got her moving quickly down the hall.
“I’m proud of you for doing so many new things, Hadley,” Finn said, ushering her down toward the Caterpillars Room.
She squeezed his hand and he tried to distract her by pointing out all the Christmas decorations in the hallways. It was filled with paper angels, elves, and letters to Santa.
Hadley froze when she reached the entryway to the nursery. Finn was worried she was going to ask to go back to their room. He didn’t mind, but he knew she would regret not trying.
A woman with a bun stood by the door to the room. She also wore a long black skirt and a crisp button-up shirt. Her hands were clasped in front of her. Finn thought she looked very professional, but he could feel Hadley tense beside him.
The woman smiled warmly at the pair. “Hello, aren’t you precious?” she said, as she bent down a bit to speak to Hadley.
When she noticed Hadley’s picture support cards in her hands, her smile grew. “You must be Hadley.”
Hadley nodded.
“Well, it is so nice to finally meet you. I’m Nanny J. Master Finn and I have had many conversations about you, sweetie. May I give you a hug?”
Yes.
The two embraced and Finn found himself having to swallow the lump in his throat.
Once she released Hadley, she shook Finn’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you both. We’re going to have so much fun today, little one. Come inside and let me show you both around,” she said, taking Hadley’s hand and guiding her inside.
Finn followed behind them and tried not to look imposing to the other Little ones inside.
“This is Miss Samantha and Miss Phoebe. They help us out during the week.”
Both women waved to Hadley and Finn.
“This is Nate,” she said pointing to a Little boy sitting at a kidney-shaped table coloring a picture of a reindeer.
“Hi,” he said, waving.
“And this Little one is Mindy,” Nanny J said.
“Hi,” she said, pulling her pacifier from her mouth and waving.
“And this is Lori,” she said, motioning to a Little girl sitting in a highchair, drinking a sippy cup of something.
Lori waved with the hand she wasn’t holding her cup with.
“Has she already had breakfast?” Nanny J asked Finn.
“Yes, and she has lunch packed in her backpack,” Finn said, reminding her.
Hadley’s food sensitivities had been another email conversation he’d had with the Preschool teacher. He may have gone a bit overboard with all the information he provided, he’d just wanted to make sure Hadley was taken care of if he wasn’t there.
“Alright. And we are in diapers?”
“Yes,” Finn answered. He chuckled as Hadley flushed bright red. There were a few areas of her Little life that she’d not allowed him in and her diapers were definitely one of those areas. “She has more in her bag. She usually changes herself, though. They’re the pull-up style, but she may be open to someone helping her.”
“Perfect.”
“We’re going to have the best day and you’re here on an extra special day. We have a special guest coming to read a book to us for Circle Time,” Miss Phoebe explained.
“Oh, a special guest, Peeps. That will be so fun,” he said as he waited for her to look at him. “I’m going to go now, okay? But I’ll be back to get you before naptime.”
Sleeping was hard for Hadley in new places and he was sure she would need a good nap after all the excitement from the day. He’d also thought introducing her slowly would be better than dropping her off for a full day of play.
Hadley rushed to him and threw her arms around him. He rubbed her back gently. “If you need me, Nanny J will call me and I will come get you, okay? You don’t have to tough it out.”
She nodded into his neck and then surprised him by kissing his cheek.
Thank you. She tapped the card twice.
“You’re welcome, Peeps. I love you.”
Her three taps to his chest made him smile.
Once he was out of the room, he couldn’t resist peeking in the door. Hadley was sitting at the table with Nate, coloring.
“She’ll be fine,” Nanny J assured him. He knew she would be, but what about him? He hadn’t realized leaving her would be quite so hard.
Finn looked over the list of 101 classes. He’d signed up to take a few over their stay, so he wasn’t sure why he was looking at them again. Probably to distract himself from the desire to go get Hadley from the Caterpillars Room. She’d been there less than an hour. Closing his laptop, he decided to go down to the gift shop and look at the furniture catalogs they had.
It wasn’t too crowded when he reached the shop. Smiling, at the woman who approached him, he shook her outstretched hand.
“Hello, my name is Becky. Can I help you with anything?”
“Yes, Master Derek told me you could help me purchase some furniture for my L… for my friend.” Finn couldn’t believe he’d almost slipped and called Hadley his Little one.
“Of course, come this way,” she said, leading him toward a desk in the back.
“What kind were you looking for?”
“She really liked the ones in the attached nursery of our suite, but I think maybe in white instead. The trim in her playroom at home is white.”
“Oh, perfect, the man who makes our furniture does offer it in white and will ship it anywhere in the United States.”
“Great. Could you help me pick the pieces that are already in the room?”
“Yes, so the highchair,” she said flipping papers, “is here.”
“Perfect. Let’s order that.”
“Okay,” she said, picking up a tablet and hitting a few buttons.
“And this is the crib and matching changing table we have in the rooms.”
“Perfect. Let’s add those as well.”
“Anything else?” she asked once that was done.
“Do you have any type of playpen?”
“Absolutely! We don’t have one that would match exactly, but we do have a white wooden one with etching on the sides.”
“She’d look precious in that.” He nodded. “Let’s order that too.”
“Do you think you’ll need bedding for her crib? Any twin size will fit, but we do have some beautiful prints here and we can ship them if you want to keep your purchases a surprise.”
He thought it over. “Yes, let’s look at bedding as well.”
“Your friend sure is a lucky Little girl.” Becky beamed at him.
Finn waited until she turned her back to roll his eyes. Yeah, yeah, he got it. He was in love with his best friend.